


Unintended

by Cherrie



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Doctor Louis, M/M, Model Harry, Past Nick Grimshaw/Harry Styles, Past Nick Grimshaw/Louis Tomlinson
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-12
Updated: 2018-07-12
Packaged: 2019-06-09 09:42:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15264732
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cherrie/pseuds/Cherrie
Summary: He watched as the guy threw his head back and giggled looking like a still shot from a romantic comedy. Fuck, he was beautiful. Of course he fucking was. Louis was short and stout there was no way he could fucking compare to that ethereal creature. Fucking Nick. Not only he had to cheat, but he had to do it with the most beautiful man on the planet.





	Unintended

**Author's Note:**

> if you thought I was finished... SURPRISE!
> 
> So I saw this tweet about two girls who realised they were dating the same guy, fucked his shit up, became friends and then started to date and voila! 
> 
> I need some love cause I'm writing a fic for another exchange and I need some lovely comments to inspire me :D 
> 
> Also give it up for my beta Serena, who never disappoints xx thank you love for everything!
> 
> Trigger warning for cheating BUT none of it from Harry or Lou.
> 
> EDIT: THERE IS AN UNNATURAL AMOUNT OF KUDOS ON THIS ONE LATELY SO I KNOW SOMEONE MUST HAVE REC'ED ME. IF YOU CAME HERE FROM FIC REC ACCOUNT LET ME KNOW PLEASE !! xx (I'm writting in all caps so people notice :D)

Louis was not fucking stupid, okay?

He had finished college with honours, he was a doctor for Christ’s sake, and med school, let me tell you, was fucking hell. So he was not an idiot. And he knew that when your boyfriend suddenly doesn’t have time to come over, never can meet at moments notice and his phone is seemingly glued to his hand all the time meant that the bastard was cheating. 

He spent a few months putting this thing together and now he was actually pretty sure that this was what was happening. It had come as a surprise at first, followed by weeks of trying to deny all the signs. But finally he had to acknowledge that Nick had someone on the side.

Which was why he was sitting in a rental car in front of a red brick house, a few cars behind Nick’s. He had followed him here. He had been following him for a few days already, never able to catch him in the act. He did have a full time job and it’s not like he could drive after him all day. But today Louis had decided to surprise Nick at work. He had left the car around the corner because he didn’t have an excuse to have a rental, and when he came to the radio Nick was flushed bright red and stumbled out some excuse of his mom being sick. So Louis swallowed around nausea and left the building, lying that he would take the tube home, and jumped inside the rental car waiting for Nick to drive out of the parking lot. 

This? This was not Nick’s mom house. Louis had seen him go inside with a bouquet of flowers and it had been four hours of staring straight ahead, eyes glued to the door. He declined few calls from Zayn and Niall who have been worried about him for months now, and were checking up on him more often than not recently. They knew that if Louis didn’t want to talk, there was no way to make him before he was ready but they still wanted to make sure that he knew they were there.

He just couldn't bring himself to tell them. They loved Nick, and after all Louis been through they were so happy that he found someone nice. Nick was supposed to be IN their wedding and now Louis would have to break the news to them and they would worry about him like they always did, and he just… he was so fucking pissed. Why couldn’t Nick just break up with him like a normal person? People grow apart, people change and that was completely fine. He maybe would be even able to, somewhere down the line, be friends with him. But now? After weeks of lying and cheating? Louis wanted him fucking dead.

Finally the door opened and Nick stepped out with a guy following close behind. Louis’ heart stopped. The guy was tall with long hair and he was only wearing jeans riding low on his hips. His chest was littered with tattoos and he was tall with strongly defined muscles. Not enough to make him look buff, but enough to show even from that distance. Louis subconsciously sucked in his stomach, feeling his cheeks heat up. 

He didn’t know that was what Nick wanted. 

If there was even a shred of doubt about what it was between the two, Nick turned around wrapping his arms around the guy’s waist and kissing him passionately while squeezing his ass. Louis bit his bottom lip so hard he thought it would bleed, but he needed that because he had two confrontations to do and he was not going to cry. 

He was going to fucking kill them.

He watched as the guy threw his head back and giggled looking like a still shot from a romantic comedy. Fuck, he was beautiful. Of course he fucking was. Louis was short and stout there was no way he could fucking compare to that ethereal creature. Fucking Nick. Not only he had to cheat, but he had to do it with the most beautiful man on the planet.

Finally, Nick unglued himself from the guy and with a skip to his step got inside his car. He drove off and Louis was just psyching himself up to go over the house when his phone rang and a photo of him kissing Nick appeared on the screen. He wanted to puke.

‘Hiya love,’ he heard Nick on the other side of the line.

‘Hi,’ he choked out.

‘Mom’s fine. Thought I could come over if you want.’ Nick mumbled, his voice getting husky, and Louis looked at his phone shocked. What the fuck had they been doing there that Nick still wanted to fuck? Debate club?!

‘Um… I…. You know, I … I don’t feel very well. I’ll call you tomorrow.’ Louis said quickly and disconnected the call before Nick could even get a word in. It’s not like he hadn’t had sex with him for the past few months. But even if he knew what was going on, he had still had that shimmer of hope that maybe this would all turn out to be a huge misunderstanding. Seeing him with his tongue down someone’s throat had erased that silly notion immediately. 

Mother fucking bastard.

Louis got out of the car furious, and stomped up the porch banging his fists loudly on the door. 

Side bitch for entree a cheating bastard for dessert, they were both fucking dead.

‘What did you forget this time?’ He heard a voice speak when the door opened and… fuck Louis’ life.

‘Of fucking course.’ Louis groaned upon seeing him up close. ‘Of course you’re fucking gorgeous. Jesus Christ. Are you even human?’ He yelled pushing past the guy to get inside the house. There were two glasses of wine on the table, flowers that Nick carried into the house in the vase next to it, and a condom wrapper on the floor. Fuck. FUCK.

‘For months I told myself that I was crazy.’ Louis whispered, feeling his eyes water again looking around all the evidence. ‘Couldn’t he just... ‘ Louis added his legs giving out underneath him and he sat on the couch rubbing his eyes tiredly like he had just gotten up from a terrible nightmare, only he wasn’t waking up. 

‘Um… excuse me, but who are you?’ he heard a guy asked in a deep voice. Even his voice was better than Louis’. This guy was like a personification of all the insecurities Louis had ever had. Of course Nick hated his high pitched voice, so he found a literal super fucking model to fuck. 

‘I saw him leave.’ Louis said, all the fight drained out of him.

‘Look, I don’t know who you are or what you want, but I’m gonna call the police. You should leave.’ The guy said then, only now making Louis look up. He was holding an umbrella like a weapon, his posture rigid and the door still open behind him.

‘You don’t know who I am.’ Louis said, his eyes huge as the realisation dawned on him.

‘And I don’t care, just please leave!’ The guy said, looking more and more panicked.

‘I’m Nick’s boyfriend.’ Louis stated, taking a shaky breath. ‘I’ve been his boyfriend for four years now.’ 

Louis could see the guy accepting the news in waves. First his eyebrows furrowed and his grip on the umbrella tightened before he lowered it completely and opened his mouth like he wanted to speak, then he closed it abruptly and shut the door with his leg.

‘I’m Nick’s boyfriend.’ He argued, a small crease on his forehead making him look like a distrungled little animal.

Louis just sighed and took out his phone, before showing it to the guy opened on his gallery. He looked through it quietly, hundreds of pictures of Louis with Nick alone, or two of them with their families, or with Niall and Zayn. Four years worth of pictures piled up in that folder.

‘He… You’re Louis!’ The guy exclaimed with sudden relief washing over his face.

‘You know who I am?’ Louis asked, his anger coming back quickly. Why the fuck would he pretend to not know Louis if he clearly knew about him!

‘The ex who can’t take a hint?’ The guy asked mockingly with raised eyebrow. ‘Yeah, I would say I do. Look, I’m sorry that he broke up with you but this has nothing to do with me. So please get the fuck out of my house’

‘The ex?!” Louis yelled, the impunity taking his breath away and suddenly he started to laugh uncontrollably. ‘The ex?!’ He wheezed out. ‘You know what… watch this.’ He said, taking back his phone and dialing Nick again. The guy looked at him, calculating before Nick’s voice filled the room.

‘Lou! You hung up on me! Are you okay?’

‘Sorry love, I feel sick. I had to run to the bathroom. Do you think you can come over tomorrow?’ He asked, seeing the guy turning white at the sound of Nick’s voice.

‘Sure baby. Do you want me to kiss it better?’ Nick joked and the guy put his hand to his mouth like he was going to be physically sick. Welcome to the fucking club.

‘Don’t I always. I’ll call you back, okay?’ Louis added, trying to end the conversation. Seeing the boy so shocked at Nick’s disloyalty made him feel a little bit guilty.

‘Of course. I love you.’ Nick added and Louis just punched the red button to end the call.

‘Oh my god.’ The guy whispered, sitting down on the couch and hiding his head in his hands. Louis sat beside him and for the first time since he barged inside, he felt awkward and guilty. And then the guy’s arms started to shake and Louis realised he was crying. Shit.

‘Hey,’ he said gently, putting a hand on the guy’s arm. ‘What’s your name?’ He asked softly realising he didn’t even know how to address him. 

‘Ha-arry,’ the guy hiccuped. ‘I- I’m s-so soory. I-I didn’t kn-oow. I tho-ought he wa-as sin-single.’ He said, trying to wipe his cheeks.

‘If you didn’t, then it’s not your fault.’ Louis answered. He wasn’t angry at the boy. I mean he probably just thought he met a cute guy. If he had no idea that Nick had a boyfriend, he didn’t do anything wrong.

As he watched him now, folding on himself, his big eyes watery biting his plump bottom lip, Louis realised that this guy had to be so much younger than him and Nick. Probably just over 20. Nick was a fucking bastard, mixing some innocent kid into this, that’s what he was.

‘How long did you date him?’ Louis asked quietly, mindlessly rubbing Harry’s arm soothingly.

‘Nine months,’ Harry mumbled and Louis felt like he had been punched in the chest. So it had been going on for way longer than he thought. ‘I.. Fuck. I can’t believe…’ Harry added and then he looked around, jumping to his feet. ‘I still have him all over me.. Fuck this is disgusting I’m so sorry… I…’ He said then, rubbing his body and his lips off like he wanted to get rid of Nick’s touch like that, his whole body shaking.

‘Hey, hey come on,’ Louis said moving towards him, seeing as the boy was on the verge of a panic attack and he clasped both of his hands tightly in his own. ‘Come on give me a breath. A deep one. Yes, just like that. Come on love, breathe.’ Harry did as he was told and Louis didn’t think it was possible but he was getting even more pissed off. This guy was fucking young and the bastard probably promised him the world, the same shit he’d been promising Louis, only to break his heart. Louis knew how that felt and he hated that this boy who seemed so sweet had to go through the same thing. ‘How about you go wash the asshole off you and then we can talk about it, huh?’ He asked softly.

After Harry had disappeared upstairs, Louis rubbed his eyes tiredly and started to clean up a bit. No one needed to see more of evidence of Nick being here. He took the wine glasses and washed them in the sink. He threw out the condom wrapper, thanking his lucky stars that he didn’t actually have to handle anything more than condom wrapper because he was trying to be adult about this at least for a duration of the conversation with Harry, but he was this close to losing his shit. Then he threw out the flowers to the trash bin on the street, Harry probably didn’t need to see them again when he took out his trash.

When Harry came back downstairs, his eyes rimmed red, wearing a soft baby blue sweater and grey pants, Louis had already cleaned everything up and even made tea. He stood on one side of white kitchen island and pushed one cup towards Harry, who took a seat on the other side of it, looking far more composed than just few minutes before.

‘I’m sorry.’ Harry said quietly, holding the cup like a lifeline.

‘It’s not your fault,’ Louis shrugged. ‘I’m sorry too,’ he added as an afterthought, thinking that whatever he was feeling, this guy probably felt that too. It wasn’t four years, sure, but nine months could already count as a serious relationship.

‘Definitely not  _ your _ fault,’ Harry shot back, his expression hard. ‘So… What are we going to do now?’ he asked. 

‘I may have an idea,’ Louis smirked.

Harry narrowed his eyes in a silent question.

‘Well, we could just break up with him. I mean…’ He stopped abruptly. ‘You do want to break up with him, right?’ He asked, suddenly struck by the idea that maybe Harry didn’t think cheating would mean an automatic break up. Maybe he wanted to work it out with Nick.

‘Do I want to break up with a douche that has been cheating on his boyfriend of 4 years and me and turned me into a fucking mistress?’ Harry asked with a raised eyebrow, his lips forming a tight line. ‘Yes. I do want to break up with him.’

‘Okay,’ Louis sighed, relieved. He was starting to feel some strange and twisted connection with the boy, so he would feel even more sick with this whole situation if he comforted the guy only to have him ride off to the sunset with Nick. ‘So we could either just break up with him or…’ He started playing with his cup.

‘...or?’ Harry asked.

‘Or we could fuck with him.’ 

‘How?’

‘I may have a few ideas,’ Louis said again, tilting his head to the side.

‘Are any of them illegal?’ Harry inquired.

‘Pretty much all of them.’ Louis nodded. 

‘Good. Let’s do it.’ Harry looked at Louis with a defiant glint in his eyes and Louis just grinned and shook his hand. 

* * *

‘How did you meet?’ Louis asked two days later when he and Harry were in Nick’s apartment getting everything ready for his ‘surprise’. Harry had made plans with him and Louis pretended to be sick in order to make sure that Nick felt comfortable leaving Harry alone in his apartment, not worrying over Louis dropping by unannounced. Harry told him he wanted to cook them dinner. As fucking if.

‘He interviewed me on his show,’ Harry said, checking the ropes tied to a bed.

‘Wait… are you famous? Should I know who you are?’ Louis asked looking at Harry with his eyes narrowed.

‘I mean I… I model a bit,’ Harry shrugged blushing prettily and ducking his head.

‘Model huh?’ Louis teased jumping on the bed and taking out his phone. ‘What’s your last name?’ He added looking to Harry.

‘Styles’ he said sighing, defeated. They had only known each other for two days and he already knew that trying to convince Louis to not do something was pointless. 

‘Of course you have a rockstar name. Tell me, Harry Styles, do you live to make all rest of us feel like shit?’ Louis inquired further.

‘Oh please. You’re a hot doctor. I’m pretty sure my mom would forget about my entire existence if she met you.’ Harry rolled his eyes sitting down next to Louis.

‘That’s what every gay guy wants to hear’ Louis mocked ‘That moms love them. Hey!’ Louis exclaimed stopping his train of thought. ‘You’re really fucking famous!’ He added scrolling through tons of articles about Harry.

‘A bit.’ Harry smiled.

‘Should I ask for your autograph?’ Louis teased, making Harry laugh. 

‘Well that depends, do you want one?’ Harry quipped back.

‘Wait, lemme text my sister to ask if she’s a fan. She’s into whole fashion thing.’ Louis said only half joking. 

‘Honey I’m home!’ They heard Nick’s voice from the hallway and both jumped up from the bed. Louis motioned Harry to get out and he did grabbing a black blindfold from the bed. He hastily unbuttoned half of his shirt and met Nick outside of the room.

‘Hi baby,’ Harry purred, touching Nick’s waist and sliding his hands all the way to his back pulling himself flush against Nick’s body. ‘I missed you’ he added nuzzling Nick’s neck, afraid that if Nick looked at his face he would know something was up. 

‘Oh I can tell.’ Nick smirked pulling Harry closer even though there was no space left between them. ‘I was told there would be dinner.’ 

‘There will be plenty of treats for you today, sweetie, but you’re gonna have to be a good boy first.’ Harry smirked and put the blindfold up into Nick’s line of vision in silent question.

‘Yes sir.’ Nick mumbled coyly.

Harry tied the blindfold over his eyes and led him to the bedroom where Louis was already waiting. They just nodded quickly at each other and Harry pushed Nick on the bed only to sit on him and tie his hands together and then quickly moving to his legs.

‘What’s the hurry baby?’ Nick murmured.

‘Oh I don’t know  _ baby.’  _ Louis said then seeing as Harry already tied him up. ‘Me and Hazza may have plans later,’ he added when Nick went completely stiff on the bed.

Harry giggled and with one swift movement took off Nick’s blindfold.

‘Hi.’ Louis smiled, sweetly playing with scissors while looking at Nick.

‘What… I… how… like… he… I….’ Nick started, looking and sounding like fish taken out of the water.

‘He… I… What…’ Harry mocked. ‘Who got your tongue, sweetie? Do you have a third one that we don’t know about?’ He added innocently.

‘Oh he’s speechless’ Louis snickered. ‘Harry, dear, care to do the honours?’

‘Yeah’ Harry said holding Nick’s favourite Gucci shirt in his hands and slashing it in half with another pair of scissors.

‘No!’ Nick yelled, his words strangled.

‘What’s the matter, did you like the shirt?’ Harry asked, his face a perfect picture of innocence.

Louis assessed Nick and was frankly shocked to see that Nick wasn’t growling. His jaw had gone very stiff like he was grinding his teeth either to stop himself from speaking or from rage.  

‘Nothing to say then?’ he asked making Nick’s head snap to him.

‘You know.’ Nick stated, way too calm for someone who was having his apartment trashed. ‘What’s more to say?’ he asked and Louis was pretty sure that he would shrug if he wasn't restrained. Four years of a relationship. Louis had met his mother. Ho'w… how do you just… how do you just shrug after you killed it?

‘So us meeting. Us dumping your ass, and messing up your shit doesn’t hurt you in the slightest.’ Louis stated, feeling repulsed by the man lying on the bed.

‘You obviously have some kind of a bitch fest going on.’ Nick rolled his eyes and if Louis didn’t know him so well he might have even bought this whole blaise attitude. ‘I’m sorry that I lied. Especially to you, Harry. You deserved more than that. To be honest Lou, I just didn’t know how to dump you.’ He sounded almost like he was saying that only to get a rise from Louis and even though Louis knew that, it took all he had not to punch Nick in the face.

‘I… ‘ Harry said taking a small break from destroying Nick’s shit. ‘How did we not notice how completely fucked up he is?’ Harry asked looking to Louis.

‘He’s good at sucking dick?’ Louis replied without missing the bit.

‘Yeah,’ Harry agreed after a second. ‘That’s probably it.’ He stated, taking Nick’s phone in hand.

‘What are you doing?’ Nick asked, getting slightly fidgety.

‘@TaylorSwift I’m a huge fan honestly, but the last album is just garbage. You’re not gonna sell music on a flat chest alone #overrated’ Harry giggled while typing into Nick’s twitter account.

‘You did not.’ Louis laughed delighted, looking over Harry’s shoulder. ‘Oh my God!’ he wheezed out when he saw the actual tweet on Nick’s feed gaining dozen of replies already.

‘I’m just gonna say that I was hacked!’ Nick said a bit nervously

‘Well, duh. But the internet never forgets.’ Harry smiled sweetly.

‘Oh babe!’ Louis said attracting Harry’s attention. ‘I found his bank account password!’

‘Louis.’ Nick warned from the bed, wriggling around trying to get rid of the ties around his limbs.

‘How do you feel about making some charitable donations?’ Louis smiled.

‘You know I can just cancel that, right?’ Nick asked.

‘You should.’ Harry nodded patting Nick’s arm. ‘I can see the story already ‘Nick Grimshaw gets hero’s remorse and pulls thousands of pounds from donations’.’ He added, looking dreamily in the distance.

‘Ten thousand to Trevor project done!’ Louis giggled. ‘What should we do next?’ He asked Harry, sitting on the other side of Nick and angling the laptop so he could see it.

‘Oh oh! Puerto Rico! Ricky Martin has this charity for Puerto Rico. They want to rebuild houses for people who still live without running water and electricity!’ Harry said enthusiastically.

‘God you’re so smart.’ Louis smiled when Nick groaned loudly and banged his head on the bed’s headboard. 

Collectively they wired over fifty thousand pounds to various charities around the globe and trashed Nick’s place completely. Louis wanted to just leave him tied up for his housekeeper to find him the next day, but Harry convinced him not to. There could be some emergency and while Nick could easily replace money, they didn’t actually want to try to kill him. 

‘I’m gonna tell everyone about this.’ Nick hissed out between his teeth when Harry was loosening up one of his hands so he could easily wiggle out and untie himself after they ran off.

‘Please do.’ Louis smiled sweetly. ‘I’m sure Harry could use publicity, after all the general public loves the lover scorned. Hell! Harry may just become the next Lady Diana. He’s sure pretty enough, isn’t he?’ He added with a appreciative smile in Harry’s direction, when he joined him at the door.

‘Louis!’ Nick yelled after him, and Louis hated himself a little bit for stopping and turning around.

‘I did love you once, you know.’ Nick said quietly, making Louis snort a laugh, and Harry to tangle their hands together.

‘The problem is darling, I don’t believe a word you say’ 

* * *

Two hours later after initial phase of giggles Louis and Harry were sitting in Niall’s pub, drunk out of their asses.

‘Wanna tell me who’s this?’ the voice above him asked and Louis turned around to see a very displeased Niall.

Oh.

Right. He hadn’t exactly told them what had been going on for the past six months.

‘Nialler,’ Louis giggled motioning for his friend to come closer. ‘Meet Harry!’ He exclaimed while Harry tipped an imaginary hat.

‘Harry.’ Niall said, his expression sour. ‘How about I’m gonna escort you away from  _ Harry _ and to your boyfriend’s apartment huh? Because according to my staff you’ve been flirting with  _ Harry  _ for hours now.’ He added, tugging on Louis’ sleeve.

‘Oh, I’m not the one that was flirting with Harry. You know who was?’ Louis asked, his voice getting quieter until it ended up in a whisper like he wanted to tell Niall a secret.

‘Louis…’ Niall started looking annoyed.

‘Nick! Nick’s been flirting with Harry. He’s also been sleeping with him, hasn’t he,  love?’ Louis asked cooing at Harry and tugging on his hair.

‘Yes Lou,’ Harry sighed cosying up to Louis in a drunken movement.

‘...What?’ Niall asked, his eyebrows furrowed.

‘This is Nick’s lover.’ Louis said looping an arm around Harry’s arms. ‘He thought he was dating the asshole for nine months. Had no clue I actually existed.’

‘...What...Lou!’ Niall hurried out sitting in front of Louis in the booth and grabbing the hand that wasn’t currently occupied with petting Harry’s head.

‘I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before.’ Louis said feeling still a bit dizzy but at the same time way too sober for this. 

‘Is this for real?’ Niall asked, looking like he had seen a ghost.

‘I had my suspicions for a while now.’ Louis nodded seeing as Harry fell asleep on his chest. ‘I… I didn’t want to believe it at first.’ Louis shook his head. ‘I spent weeks being pissed at myself that I dared to not trust him.’ He snorted.

‘Louis, Jesus, is there… is there anything we can do?’ Niall asked.

‘Bring me another drink?’ Louis smiled bitterly.

Niall must have texted Zayn when he was by the bar because in less than two minutes, seeing as he and Niall lived above the pub, Zayn was stumbling downstairs in his pyjamas and trying to hug Louis forcefully. Louis was able to stop him only seconds before squashing Harry.

‘Who is this?’ Zayn asked, seemingly only now realising that they were not alone.

‘This is Harry, Nick’s lover.’ Louis said already tired of calling him Nick’s lover, but his drunk self liked the dramatic effect.

‘Why the fuck is he here?’ Zayn asked raising his voice, looking ready to murdejjjr.

‘Shhh.’ Louis shushed. ‘He’s sleeping.’ Louis said squeezing Harry’s shoulders that made the younger boy bury himself deeper into Louis’ side. 

‘What the fuck?’ Zayn mouthed at Louis with wide eyes.

‘He didn’t know, Zayn. Nick told him that I was his ex who couldn’t take a hint, not a boyfriend. He… He got hurt too, okay? And he’s actually pretty fucking cool.’

‘Oh.’ Zayn said, and Louis could see him struggle to not comment something along the lines of ‘still weird though’. ‘Are you okay Lou? Do you want me to kill him? I can fucking kill him if you want, okay? Or did you do that already cause I can get rid of the body okay? I watched all of the seasons of Breaking Bad.’ Zayn said as serious as one could be in Deadpool pyjamas. ‘Twice,’ he added simply for dramatic effect. 

‘We kind of already took care of it.’ Louis smirked.

‘Wait…’ Zayn said, looking around and leaning in. ‘Did you actually kill him?’ He mumbled under his breath.

‘No!’ Louis exclaimed. ‘We kind of just tied him to the bed, destroyed all his shit, and then transferred over half of his money to various charities. Oh! And Harry sent out a tweet about Taylor Swift that will one hundred percent make a bunch of people angry. It was extremely sexist.’

‘Jesus, Lou.’ Zayn sighed. ‘I mean, the son of a bitch had it coming, but… I’m so sorry that you had to do this alone.’ 

‘Not your fault.’ Louis shrugged when Niall slid another drink in front of him. ‘I was the one that didn’t tell you.’

‘How are you holding up?’ Zayn asked him as Harry snored softly in Louis’ ear.

‘I’m… I mean I’m not fine, but… I first realised that something was different six months ago. I just got this gut feeling that he wasn’t being honest with me and I couldn’t shake it off. No matter how hard I tried to convince myself that everything was okay, and to ignore all the signs, subconsciously I knew from that moment that he was cheating. I already had six months to deal with it. I may need another minute or two, but. As soon as I tell my mom, the worst part will be behind me.’ 

‘I can go with you if you want?’ Zayn asked softly.

‘I’m not five, Z.’ Louis smiled shaking his head. ‘I know you don’t know what to say or do. It’s fine. Nobody gets it. It’s enough that you’re here.’ He added squeezing Zayn’s hand.

‘Well someone may get it.’ Zayn said pointing towards Harry with his face softly.

Louis looked down at the boy that was snoring softly, his cheeks red from too much alcohol. He looked so beautiful, and so sweet. He did not deserve any of this.

‘He cried when I told him.’ Louis said quietly shaking his head. ‘I barged into his house. I wanted to kill him, and he had no idea who I was. And when he realised I was telling the truth, he started to cry.’ 

‘Lou,’ Zayn sighed. ‘I know that your first instinct is always to take care of other people. And I’m not gonna tell you not to because I love that about you so much. But just promise me you’re gonna take care of yourself too, okay?’

‘Promise, Z.’ Louis nodded ‘But now I should probably take the Sleeping Beauty home. He has bad back and he’s gonna hate me if I let him sleep like this for too long.’ 

‘I’m home tomorrow if you need me, okay?’ Niall said looking to Louis seriously.

He knew that they still had to have a conversation about all of this. That he barely told them what had gone down and that they were both way too sensitive to pry and ask questions, but this day was already so emotionally draining that Louis just needed to sleep. Especially since he needed to be at work the next day. Seeing as it was difficult to wake Harry up, Niall and Zayn helped him put Harry in the cab, and since Harry lived all the way on the other side of London they just drove to his own apartment and put Harry in his guest bedroom. 

And when he tucked Harry in and threw him one last look before he shut the lights off and left, he realised that this was probably last time he was going to see him. So he choked down the ugly feeling in his stomach at the thought and went to sleep. 

* * *

Louis was a fucking coward.

He was a coward and an asshole and if he put in more work at his psych rotation he would probably be able to recognise some serious daddy issues causing his behaviour but that wasn’t something he felt like revisiting just now.

He was at work, doing morning rounds and thinking about Harry.

Harry who was currently sleeping in his apartment with a note stuck to his phone for him not to miss it. 

Louis should have just talked to him. Like a normal person. But his biological dad had left before he was born. His step dad that raised him left when Louis was a teenager. His first boyfriend broke up with him to pretend to be straight after two years of a secret relationship, and when he finally decided to trust someone enough to let them close, he ended up cheating on Louis after four years of a relationship. 

So it seemed like everyone was leaving him.

And he liked Harry. He was witty, smart, and he defied all the stereotypes that people had about models, because he was a huge nerd and Louis liked spending time with him. Maybe it was weird. Wanting to be friends with the guy that your boyfriend cheated you on, but Louis could use friends. He didn’t open up to people easily. Zayn had been in his life ever since they were little and then Niall came when he and Zayn started to date. Besides that he didn’t have any close friends. Harry already had seen him at his weakest and his most vulnerable. So it wasn’t so hard to open up to him anymore. 

Which is why Louis had left him a card with a message in his lousy handwriting that he would like to hang out, and be friends if Harry would want that. But he also gave him an out if he wanted to just leave and never see him again and forget about this whole thing.

He made himself focus on his job, because those kids under his care were more important now but every break he self consciously was checking his phone and his heart was sinking every time there was no missed calls or messages. When it was still morning he could pretend that Harry was probably asleep, but now when he was getting home after a twelve hour shift he had to face the fact that Harry didn’t want to be friends.

Honestly who could blame him? It’s not like Louis was that interesting. And Harry probably had tons of celebrity friends, and Louis would just be a walking reminder of this awful thing that happened to him.

He readied himself for a night of ice cream and probably a call from his mom, since he had just about fifteen minutes on break to talk to her when he opened his apartment and smelled something cooking. 

‘Hello?’ He asked tentatively.

‘You’re not gonna try to attack me with an umbrella, are you?’ He heard an amused Harry, alluding to the first time they met.

‘You’re here.’ Louis said, breathless upon seeing Harry in his kitchen wearing an apron and stirring something on the stove.

‘You’re an idiot.’ Harry stated. ‘I didn’t even  _ think  _ about never seeing you again! I thought it was given that we’re friends now!’ 

‘I mean… I didn’t want you to like feel obligated to like… maintain this even though I have to remind you so much of this thing… and…’ Louis started to explain himself twisting his fingers nervously and Harry leveled him with unimpressed gaze before he turned around to turn off the stove.

‘Nick wasn’t really my type.’ He said after a bit taking out a plate and putting some food on it. ‘Before him, I usually went for sporty masculine types.’ He said getting his own plate and sitting in front of Louis. ‘You have no idea how many footballers I used to date.’ He shook his head. ‘But the thing about footballers was that most of them were still in the closet. And I know I’m young, but I’ve been living in the grown up world since I was 14 and I got discovered in a supermarket, and I’ve done enough stupid things to know that was not what I wanted. What I want, what I always wanted was a family. Someone that I could trust, and love and cherish, but after another break up because he didn’t want to come out or even tell his friends about us, my best friend - Liam - asked one valid question. Which was, if I want a serious relationship and a family, why do I date people who are obviously so not ready for that? So when I met Nick and he was flirting, I thought, sure. Maybe he’s not really my type,  but he’s out and he’s a bit older and maybe it’s time to try something different. So I did. And he turned out to be great so we kept going but, I don’t think my heart was in it. When you showed up… it did hurt, because it’s not a thing that you should do to another human being, but I’ll be fine without him. I’ll hurt for a while mostly because I can’t believe I misjudged him like that, but I’ll be fine. He’s just a cheating bastard, nothing more.’ Harry smiled for the first time, looking at Louis. ‘So when I meet someone that I click with, and have fun with even if we’re taking revenge on a cheating bastard that is our ex, said ex is not going to influence my decision whether I should continue to be friends with that person or not.’ Harry concluded. ‘So eat your food, we’re going to movies later.’

‘You seriously don’t have anything better to do after spending whole day in my apartment? Don’t you have a job?’ Louis teased because he really wasn’t good with emotional stuff.

‘I’m a model remember?’ Harry asked. ‘I have nothing better to do than to lounge around your apartment for days.’ He smirked.

‘Oh lord, I’m gonna regret this, aren’t I?’ Louis groaned.

‘Probably, yeah.’ Harry said with a self satisfied smirk. ‘Too late now though.’

‘I think I can live with that.’

* * *

 

‘So Harry did like the funniest thing ever today.’ Louis laughed sitting at dinner with Zayn and Niall. ‘He’s in LA now, he has few photoshoots there and he has been pranking Liam all day by pretending to pat him on the back but really sticking paper with weird shit on it to his back.’ He giggled, remembering how giddy Harry was on the phone. ‘He’s done 13 already and Liam still hasn’t noticed.’

It’s been almost a year since they met, and even with Harry flying all over the world they texted and skyped each other all the time. Harry still lived mostly in London so they saw each other plenty. Louis loved Harry, he was pretty sure that Harry was his best friend in the entire world and he couldn’t help but think that he owed Nick a thank you card for bringing them together.

‘Okay then,’ Niall mumbled under his breath, exchanging a glance with Zayn. ‘Will you come shop tuxedos with us for the wedding?’ He added.

‘I dunno. When is it? I have to ask Harry, he may have a thing.’ Louis said in between bites.

‘Dude.’ Zayn said, putting his fork down.

‘Hm?’ Louis asked around his salad.

‘Do you really not see it? You’re that fucking oblivious?’ Zayn asked incredulously.

‘See what?’ Louis asked mindlessly. ‘I’m not oblivious! But you should fucking see Harry, like two weeks ago we were in this bar and this girl was like putting her tits in his face all the time, and I mean I don’t care like Harry is gay obviously, but he was like so oblivious! He had no idea that she was trying to pick him up! It was fucking hilarious.’

Zayn and Niall looked at each other again and burst out with laughter. Louis looked at them with his eyebrows furrowed. 

‘I mean it wasn’t  _ that _ funny.’ He mumbled. ‘Weirdos.’

‘No... Lou,’ Zayn said wiping his eyes off. ‘Why aren’t you dating him?’

‘Who?’ Louis asked, genuinely confused.

‘Harry.’ 

‘What?! Oh come on! He’s my friend!’ Louis exclaimed.

‘Lou. I love you,’ Niall said. ‘But we asked you how you were and your answer started with ‘so Harry did the funniest thing.’ He added with unimpressed gaze. 

‘And we love Harry, but we weren’t asking him to help us pick tuxedos for the wedding, we were asking you and you immediately assumed that Harry would be there because you are pretty much the same person at this point.’ Zayn piped in.

Louis looked at them wanting to call them wrong, but something stopped him. He slowly put his fork down, as the sudden realisation dawned on him.

Oh shit.

He was in love with Harry.

* * *

So he was in love in Harry.

No biggie.

It was fine.

He just had to choke that feeling down. And if it raised up again he would have to choke it down some more.

It’s not like it has been all he has been able to think about for days ever since he realised. It’s not like he has been turning around all of their interactions in his head thinking about where he went wrong and fell for the guy. 

‘Louis, hi!’ Harry exclaimed happily, snapping Louis out of his thoughts. 

They met for lunch because Harry had just gotten back from L.A. and before Louis knew what was happening Harry was holding him tight and Louis absolutely did not sink into his arms like he was made out of clay. 

(He did.)

Honestly fuck his treacherous body for betraying him like that.

‘How was L.A.?’ He asked when Harry finally released him from the grip of his humongous hands. Were they always so big?

‘It was good.’ Harry smiled sitting down in the booth beside Louis. ‘I’m just so tired,’ He sighed, snuggling close to Louis and rubbing his cheek against Louis’ arm. Jesus Christ. Were they always like this?

‘You wanna take a nap while I order?’ Louis hummed softly. His hand found Harry’s head on instinct and tangled itself with younger boy’s hair which probably meant that yes, they were always like this.

‘Naah.’ Harry said, scrunching his nose up. ‘I wanna talk to you. I haven’t see you in ages. How’s work?’ 

‘I’m on night rotation next week.’ Louis whined turning a bit to face Harry.

‘Do you want me to bring you cookies at work?’ Harry asked, touching Louis’ cheek.

‘Yes’ Louis nodded.

‘Chocolate chip?’ Harry murmured, and Louis just leveled him with an unimpressed gaze. ‘You’re right, stupid question.’ He added laughing softly.

‘Ekhm,’ They heard a clearing of throat sound above them and turned around to see an amused looking waiter. ‘You ready to order, guys?’ 

‘Oh yeah, um.. I’ll just have a Texas burger with chips.’ Louis said, feeling his cheeks heating up as he sat up to look at the menu even though he and Harry had been coming to this place for months now and he usually ordered the same thing.

‘Same for me.’ Harry smiled sleepily, his arm looping around Louis’ waist. ‘And can we get some soda?’

‘You got it, you need some coffee?’ The waiter asked, smiling softly. 

‘You know what? Sure. Just give me a double espresso.’ Harry laughed.

‘Coming right up.’ The waiter, who Louis was pretty sure was named Tyler, collected their menus and left.

‘So...’ Louis started. ‘Niall and Zayn are going to pick up their tuxedos for the wedding, you wanna go with us?’

‘Sure babe. When is it?’ 

‘Tomorrow after work.’ Louis said. ‘Oh I’m sorry I forgot you’re a  _ model,’  _ Louis teased. ‘Work is when a person does...’

‘Oh shut it.’ Harry giggled swatting Louis’ chest. ‘No but seriously after work so like? Four pm?’

‘Yes. You’re free?’ 

‘I have a photoshoot pretty early in the morning but it’s in Soho. So I’ll probably be done before 4.’ Harry nodded when the waiter came back with their order.

Even after coffee Harry was pretty much falling asleep on top of Louis so they ate quickly and Louis drove Harry back to his place.

The next few days were filled with Harry hanging around Louis’ apartment claiming he was bored between jobs and with Zayn and Niall hounding Louis to just talk to Harry.

And Louis wasn’t an idiot.

He knew that he had to talk to Harry because it was getting harder by the second to be around him. Louis found himself on the verge of blurting out his feelings every time Harry stumbled over his own feet, or when the cashier at Tesco was flirting with him. 

But he had more composure than that. Even when it was the third day of his night shift rotation and he was falling face first on the bed in the break room at 3 am after a long and stressful surgery. He was just about to fall asleep when there was a knock on the door.

He groaned, frustrated and yelled out a ‘come in.’ He got up rubbing his eyes, getting ready for another emergency that was most definitely waiting on the other side of the door. When it opened, there was Harry’s head stuck through it.

‘Nurse Perrie told me you were here.’ Harry smiled, stepping inside the room and sitting beside Louis on the bed.

‘What are you doing here?’ Louis asked confused.

‘I promised you cookies.’ Harry shrugged taking out a container from his bag.

‘You already brought me cookies the first night remember?’ Louis asked, taking a cookie from the container and taking a bite before releasing a loud groan. ‘God this is delicious.’

‘Yes I know. But I also know that today was hell because you weren’t texting me back. And you always do when you’re on night rotation and you do some paperwork because there’s nothing going on on the ER. And if you go for a nap you text me first that you’re going to take a nap. And you didn’t. You just stopped texting back around 4 hours ago so I figured there was probably something awful going on. And I also know that when you have an awful day you like caramel more than chocolate.’ He finished, shrugging lightly.

Louis looked at him, his eyes beginning to water and his hand halfway towards his mouth with a cookie clutched in it. 

‘You…’ He said, suddenly choked up. Harry had baked him cookies. It was 3 am and instead of sleeping, Harry spent hours in the kitchen baking caramel cookies for Louis because he suspected that Louis may have had a bad day and he knew that caramel helped. ‘You are wonderful.’ He sighed.

‘Why... thank you Lou.’ Harry smiled coyly, putting his hand on Louis knee and rubbing it softly. 

‘Harry… I…. I love you.’ Louis said then, his face completely open and honest. ‘I…. fuck.’ He shook his head, frustrated at how he couldn’t find the right words. ‘You made me cookies.’ He said with a laugh like that explained everything. ‘You are the most wonderful man I’ve ever met. And I… I love you. I really do love you. I was scared that you would be running away, or leaving or… but  _ you made me cookies _ .’ 

He looked up at Harry and saw him looking at Louis with his eyes shining. 

‘Say it again.’ He whispered his mouth slowly spreading with a smile.

‘You made me cookies.’ Louis teased, the smile on Harry’s face making him all kinds of hopeful.

‘Oh shut it!’ Harry giggled and brought his hands around Louis’ waist, pulling him onto his lap in an awkward position since they were both sitting crossed legged on the bed. 

‘I can’t believe you just told me you love me over cookies.’ Harry laughed softly, nosing over Louis’ cheekbone. ‘I wanted to ask you out for months now. But I didn’t know if you were ready for something new.’ He added leaning away a bit, looking at Louis earnestly. ‘I know we don’t talk about Nick often, considering how we met, but you were with him for years before I even showed up. I didn’t know whether you were ready to move on. I… was fucking gone after a month of meeting you.’ He finished shaking his head. ‘I love you too. Jesus, Lou of course I love you too.’ 

‘Really?’ Louis asked hating how small his voice sounded.

‘Lou…’ Harry sighed touching Louis’ neck softly. ‘You hate waking up in the morning. The only thing that can get you out is a strong cup of coffee. Even if you hate coffee, you would never drink it otherwise. You went to med school because you wanted to help people, which you think is a bad thing, and you’re ashamed of what you call your ‘hero complex’, which I think is admirable.’ He said, making Louis flush. ‘You love football, and you had a crush on David Beckham when you were a teenager, but then again didn’t we all?’ He smiled. ‘You’re beautiful. Everywhere. And you are the kind of person that pushes his way into his boyfriend’s lovers house ready to kill only to end up consoling the lover.’ He laughed, shaking his head. ‘You are wonderful. And I love you.’ Harry finished softly, his lips just a hair away from Louis’.

Louis sighed softly and moved forward, connecting their lips. The kiss was sweet, much like Harry was, and Louis got lost in it quite quickly before a sudden burst of light coming through the door made him jump away from Harry.

‘Well, well, Dr. Tomlinson!’ He heard an amused Perrie from the doorstep. ‘That is about damn time, but we need you at the ER.’ She added and with a wink closed the door behind her, making Louis and Harry giggle at each other.

‘I need to go.’ Louis sighed, kissing Harry’s nose.

‘Go. Save lives.’ Harry laughed. ‘You mind if I take a nap? He added when Louis stood up from the bed and put his shoes on.

‘If you prefer sleeping here than home, then sure.’ Louis shrugged, shaking his head fondly. He kissed Harry once again briefly and ran to the ER. 

When he got back to the break room two hours later, he found Harry snoring softly with half of the bed empty beside him. So he snuggled next to him and pulled Harry into his chest, and for the first time all the puzzle pieces seemed to fall into place. 

Into a rather unintended picture. 

 


End file.
